Sanju Samson’s Rajasthan Royals (RR) took on Pat Cummins-led Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the 50th match of the Indian Premier League 2024 (IPL 2024) on Thursday, May 2 at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad .
Rajasthan Royals wanted to bat first in the match, but a loss in the toss meant they had to bowl first in the match. Trent Boult did not continue his tradition of picking prime wickets, but RR managed to prevent SRH’s dangerous openers from scoring quick runs.
Head smashed a slow half-century but a fantastic 76-run knock from Nitish Reddy and a quickfire 42-run knock from Heinrich Klaasen took Sunrisers Hyderabad to a good total of 201/3. For RR, Avesh Khan picked two wickets, while Sandeep Sharma got one wicket.
Chasing the target, Riyan Parag and Yashasvi Jaiswal played exceptional innings after losing Jos Buttler and Sanju Samson in the first over. Both smashed sensational half-centuries to push SRH back and were involved in a 134-run stand.
However, after their dismissals, things did not go as RR would have liked as Shimron Hetmyer, Dhruv Jurel and Rovman Powell also failed to score significant runs, and RR were restricted to 200/7 to lose the match by 1. run. SRH’s heroes were T Natarajan, Pat Cummins and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who bowled brilliantly in the final overs.
Speaking after the match, Sanju Samson seemed dejected after the defeat but made sure to praise the SRH players for defending themselves strongly. Sanju Samson said:
“We have played some very close games this season, we won a couple of them and lost this one. Credit to the SRH players for the way they fought back. The margin for error is much less in the IPL. The game is never over until it does.”
Sanju Samson defended his dismissal, saying batting against the new ball was difficult and became easier as the ball aged. He praised the young duo of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Riyan Parag for helping RR get back into the game after losing quick wickets. Sanju Samson explained:
“It was difficult to bat against the new ball and when it got old, it became easier. Credit to both youngsters (Jaiswal and Parag), Jos (Buttler) and I came out in the powerplay, played well and took us to that . position.”
Rajasthan Royals current position in IPL rankings
Before the match against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), the dominant Rajasthan Royals (RR) were sitting on top of the mountain in the Indian Premier League 2024 points table with one foot in the IPL playoffs despite participating in only 9 games. They scored 16 points with 8 wins and 1 loss in 9 matches and had a net run rate of 0.694.
Now, after the conclusion of the match against Sunrisers Hyderabad, Rajasthan Royals have retained their top spot but there has been a slight decline in their net run rate which is now 0.622.
The Sanju Samson-led team will next be seen in action when they take on Rishabh Pant-led Delhi Capitals (DC) in the 56th match of the Indian Premier League 2024 on May 7 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi.
After that, they will face Ruturaj Gaikwad-led Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the 61st match of the Indian Premier League 2024 on May 12 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai.